A wedding? I love weddings…

On Saturday night I attended my first Filipino wedding! Everyone here knows everyone else- so apparently we were invited to the wedding reception, that was held outdoors, near a cluster of homes by Lance and Louie’s school. We walked with Lexter, Jhao, and a few others from Stairway through a very muddy road (it had rained all day) towards lights and music coming from the party. It is very difficult to go somewhere and not be noticed because the four of us always stick out like sore thumbs among our tan and petite Filipino friends, and this occasion was no different. We arrived at the tent and got a huge welcome from the MC who saw us near the buffet (which was delicious). After we ate, we realized that we actually recognized a lot of the people at the wedding. Many of the people on the Stairway staff were there, and we also knew people from the beach.
At a Filipino wedding, it is tradition that the women sit in a circle of chairs, and the men pay money to the bride and groom to dance with the women. Though I am somewhat against the concept of objectifying women and having men pay to dance with her, Carissa and I, wanting to experience a little cultural immersion, conceded when Jhao showed us to our seats in the circle. For somewhere between 20 and 100 pesos per dance, Carissa and I were on our feet the whole time. There were also free dances, where everyone could come out and dance, and those were the most fun because Alex, Mitch, and our entire Stairway family came out to dance with us. We had taught our Stairway family the Souldja Boy dance, and one of the highlights of the night was dancing all together when the song came on.

After Carissa and I grew tired of the awkward dancing with random men, we all walked back and sat at the Sailor’s Shack, a very cool little hangout on our beach.

Overall, the night was a blast and will definitely be a highlight of our trip.